Snoop Dogg Raps With Don Rickles

At first glance, Don Rickles and Snoop Dogg might seem an unlikely pair of dinner companions. But the two actually have a lot in common.

When the two met up at Mr Chow in Beverly Hills, the rapper, 45, reveals he’s quite the family man, having been married 20 years to his high school sweetheart, Shante Broadus. The two have three children together: Corde, 23, Cordell, 20, and Cori, 18. And Corde has a son, Zion, which makes Snoop a grandfather. “Family is key,” he tells Rickles, who has two grandsons of his own.

Rickles celebrated 52 years of marriage in March by posting his last-ever tweet, a tribute to his wife, Barbara. “You are my life,” he said.

Rickles and Snoop also are notable for their longevity in a notoriously fickle entertainment industry. Snoop burst on to the scene in 1993 with his highly acclaimed album Doggystyle, and set the pace for 20 years of rap while many of his flash-in-the-pan contemporaries hit dry spells. Rickles honed his brash stand-up style in the 1950s and was a fixture on TV for decades.

And the two are just so darn endearing. Rickles may have been a twister of biting barbs — but he had a heart of gold. Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., aka Snoop Dogg, actually got his nickname because he was so obsessed with “Peanuts” cartoons as a kid, his mother said he started to look like Snoopy. Aww …..